WIP Critique 1/9 Vietnam Platoon Sgt. bust WIP

[JasonB]

I figure its been a good 2 weeks since I put out a request for someone to do this one, and with nothing on the market yet, I figured I had better go for it myself. Can't wait forever ya know! He's a basher. I used a head out of the spares box, and honestly am not sure who its from. It could have been a Warriors head at some point, but when I pulled it out of the box, it was missing an ear, left eye, there was no neck, and his mouth was carved open with no lips. I think it was to be a 1/9 Custer bust that I gave up on. Anyhow, I thought the nose and cheeks looked the part, so I went with it. I ended up redoing the nose, both ears, eye sockets, of course the mouth and chin. Added the scar, and oh, did I mention he had no top to his head? Went ahead and made the bandanna after giving him a cranium. The torso was from a SOL models bust,which in turn was a recast from a Verlinden bust. The only things they changed were to make the arms, such as they were, seperate, and mold on the small shoulder pouch on the left shoulder, which was a separate part on he Verlinden bust. I had to remove that to add the punch knife. Left arm is from the parts box and suitably modded with 25th Infantry patch and tip of the rank insignia. Right arm is a total scratch and is still being worked on. The beautiful M16 carbine is from Special OPs models (along with the hand), suitably modded to represent the Colt Model 653P's used in the, uh...a movie about a platoon in Vietnam. Bandolier is scratched, all mods done with Magic Sculp. Still lots of work and smoothing to be done. I have to finish his arm, give him some fingers on his left hand, do a backpack, add some gear from the parts box, and more smoothing (digital pics are brutal, eh?). Anyhow, he's shaping up, and if my interest doesn't give out, he should be almost complete in another 10 years or so! Yeah, that's about my pace. Anyhow, I'm not sure my meager skills are going to do it justice, so if one of you pro's want to take a shot at this one, this is the overall look I was hoping for. Anyhow, feel free to comment plus or minus, all input is appreciated.

Picture used for reference only. Any similarity
of my work to this figure is PURELY coincidental, and does
not represent any character, real or fictional. Really...

 

[sam b]

Hi Jason , I think you’re doing a cracking job n I’m no pro sculptor so I can’t comment on it from that side of things , but please don’t loose interest coz I want to see this bad boy finished .

Sam

 

[pinsel]

hello jason
PHANTASTIC-thats Barns for sure the ideal pose and what nice face looks very much the same.you got exactly the pose you where keen on-
great stuff
thats an goody for the bust lover
if such an thing would be on the market i would buy it seconds after
cheers

 

[Meehan34]

excellent likeness on this guy, the scar is perfect. i hope you finish it yourself.

 

[gordy]

Nice mashup conversion and nice scars

I really like what you've done, see the potential there for new avenues ?

Congrats on getting your fingers sticky with the putty!

 

[TWOMOONS]

If your interest has truly given out, then, so be it. No sense flogging a dead horse...
It probably will come back one day, and then go at it again with renewed interest and enthusiasm.
People may want to see this particular figure done, but you have a duty to yourself to do the best you can and at what you consider your best level...doing it half heartedly will only, in the end, serve to make you disappointed.

 

[JasonB]

Thanks for the comments. No, my interest in it is still good at this point, but unfortunately the limiting factor is going to be my talent for this sort of work. I do hope that it will inspire some of out more gifted sculptors/manufacturers and let them see what could be done with it, then perhaps somewhere down the line we will get a nice quality commercial release of something like it, only better. Once I get some more of it done I will post an update.
Cheers
Jason

 

[1969]

Looks like your coping very well Jason, nice work so far mate and you captured the look of Barnes very well.

I for one would love to have a crack at this subject but its can be a bit of a minefield with actor rights and movie rights, I know you can skirt around by naming him something completely different.

All the best mate

Steve

 

[JasonB]

Hi Steve,
Yep, agree with you there. In honor of some notable figure companies that do just that, I never think if him as Barnes. I think of him as "terribly scarred Staff Sergeant", or just "Platoon Sgt. Vietnam" In the movie, Taylor refers to him as "the eye of our rage", I think thats a pretty fitting title as well.
This will get me some sculpting practice for other endeavors...

 

[gordy]

I do hope that it will inspire some of out more gifted sculptors/manufacturers and let them see what could be done with it, then perhaps somewhere down the line we will get a nice quality commercial release of something like it, only better.

That was always the case in the airplane model world.. one would laboriously scatchbuild an opus of an airplane only to see an injection molded version of the same plane in your favourite scale announced the moment the last decal is applied.

It's a Murphy Law. Modeler Martyrdom

 

[John Bowery]

Jason,
Looks excellent.
Cheers
John

 

[rheath]

Jason - it looks great so far my friend, will be great to see some paint on it.

 

[tonydawe]

Jason,

A superb effort so far. The facial scaring has been well rendered.

 

[megroot]

This is a great sculpt.
Good likeness, the scarf is excellent.
Looking forward to your next step.

marc

 

[pmfs]

"I AM REALITY..."

Great likeness!

 

[JasonB]

That is a good title for him. Thanks!

 

[Trep]

Fantastic work.

 

[Jamie Stokes]

Really like it!